


Flaws make us perfect

by Mochifel



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Female Kurusu Akira, Genderbending, Hurt/Comfort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Ryuji got his leg broken and lost it on top of that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-10 17:45:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11696700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mochifel/pseuds/Mochifel
Summary: Branded a delinquent and having lost his leg because of selfish adults, a fateful encounter on a rainy day will change the life of Ryuji Sakamoto.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I completely blame [this picture](https://twitter.com/meltsmelts/status/891852978780491780) for giving me the idea of writing a "what if Ryuji LOST his leg?" AU. I'm aware that there's a theory of Ryuji's femur having been broken (one that makes A LOT OF SENSE) but since this is an AU I took a lot of liberties here. That and I didn't want to make Ryuji suffer too much. (Says the person who is going to make him suffer in this fanfic.)
> 
> While I did some research I would still like people to nudge me if I got anatomy facts and the like wrong.
> 
> On another note, I also decided to go with Akira being a girl in this AU. But this is more because of Atlus not giving us the choice of choosing a male or female protagonist. Or to be able to woo the guys too. Boo Atlus. But you might find my take on a female version... interesting.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Persona Series or any of the characters.

The world had never been kind to Ryuji Sakamoto.

 

The first time it threw its cruelty at him had been when his father started to beat him and his mom up when things didn’t go his way. Once his father left them, his mother had to shoulder everything on her own. When he had entered Shujin Academy and became a member of the track team, he had thought that his life would take a turn for the better because of the potential he held.

 

The second time the world decided to fuck with his life was when Kamoshida got wind of his abilities. That monster had done everything in his might to get rid of him, spread the news of his family history and slandering his mother and him. It became too much one fateful day, where Kamoshida had provoked him and, as it was called later, “acted in self-defense”. That so-called self-defense included a volleyball net pole crushing his leg.

 

The world would have been kind to him if it had resulted with his leg broken only.

 

The fracture he had turned out much worse. Not only had the tibia and fibula taken severe damage, the muscles and soft tissue had gotten infected. He couldn’t recall much of his stay at the hospital from that point on, but his mother had said that he even had a seizure at some point and that it became necrotic… The doctors decided that it would be the best to amputate his leg before it would start to kill him.

 

If not for not wanting to hurt his mom then his entire life would have ended at that point. But instead of lessening her burden he had placed an even greater one on her. His life as an athlete had been over with the loss of his leg.

 

One would think that the world would finally acknowledge that they had suffered enough. But it didn’t. The world had to fuck his life over for a third time.

 

The blame was solely put on Ryuji by the school, he had been the one who attacked Kamoshida after all. Ryuji and his mom were already short on money because of having to pay the hospital bills additionally to their living costs, so they had no chance of getting the help of a lawyer. And even if, the Principal and Kamoshida had pressured and practically harassed his mom into apologizing for his actions.

 

“Your son had attacked him and not the other way around. That would already be enough to expel him from Shujin, Sakamoto-san. We could sue _him_ instead. But considering the circumstances you are in... We will overlook his actions and even cover the costs of the prosthetic he will need, under the condition that you apologize for your son and refrain from going to a lawyer. You do understand how much trouble you are causing us, so this is the least you can do.” That’s what the principle apparently said to his mom.

 

And his mother yielded. And Ryuji was branded a delinquent and a cripple.

 

It took him several months until he learned to walk again. He resented his prosthetic leg, it wasn’t even a good one, but he had to rely on it. He only laid low because he didn’t want to cause his mother anymore trouble. He didn’t say a word when he heard everyone talk behind his back. Didn’t look his classmates or his former teammates in the eye because they were full of disgust and resentment.

 

But it wasn’t different outside school either. He only kept going to school for his mom’s sake.

 

He counted the days where he would never have to return to Shujin.

 

It was April, the beginning of his second school year. It was raining. He had taken cover to dry his leg and saw Kamoshida’s car drive away after Takamaki had gotten in. He had known her from middle school and he had noticed the lecherous look Kamoshida had been giving her since a while.

 

Ryuji was sure that Kamoshida would destroy her life the way he had destroyed his if she didn’t play along. But there was nothing could he do.

 

“Dammit… screw that pervy teacher.” He was still kneeling, hands clutching onto his bad leg.

 

“… Pervy teacher?”

 

Ryuji looked up from his spot and looked at dark eyes that were filled with confusion.

 

Little did he know that the world would throw something at him for a fourth time.


	2. 1. A fateful encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryuji's mom would scold him if she knew how he had acted. And it seems like Magical Girls are a thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how much I wanted to cry when I wrote this chapter. (Read: When I wrote Kamoshida. I hate him so very much.) 
> 
> I had actually planned to put the whole Kamoshida arc into one chapter, but noticed that it was going to be too much, so I decided to split it into more than one.
> 
> I'm sorry for the lack of originality in this chapter, I'm not very happy with it either because it mostly feels like a recap of the game, but it's going to get better in the future.
> 
> As for Akira's Thieves outfit, there aren't any changes. Arsene also stays the same.

Ryuji was still looking at the dark-eyed girl when he got up from his spot, a frown on his face. The girl in front of him had short and curly black hair, a slender but tall body for a girl, about the same height as him, and wore glasses. And the Shujin uniform… Oh effing shit, only he could have that much bad luck in a single morning. Then again, the whole school knew that Ryuji had nothing good to say about that man in the first place.

 

“… What do you want? You plannin’ on rattin’ me out to Kamoshida?”

 

“Kamoshida?” She looked as confused as she had a moment ago. It might just be his gut feeling but she seemed kind of lost too.

 

“Huh? In that car just now. It was Kamoshida. He does whatever the hell he wants. Who does he think he is – the king of a castle? Don’t you agree?” Just thinking of that made Ryuji angry, but the girl was still giving him that confused look.

 

“The king of a castle?” She adjusted her school bag as he returned the confused look she had been giving him the whole time.

 

“No, I mean…” She… really had no idea, did she? “… Wait. You don’t know Kamoshida? Are you for real? You’re from Shujin, right?”

 

The girl nodded and shifted on her feet a little. “You go to Shujin too?”

 

Now that he took a closer look at her, he couldn’t recall that he had seen her on the floors of Shujin ever before, however, she seemed to be a second-year like him. Ryuji watched her as she glanced at her phone, noticing how lost she looked.

 

… Oh god, he is such an effin’ idiot and his mom would scold him if she knew how he had talked to that girl.

 

“Oh. You’re a transfer student. Then no wonder you don’t know him.” The rain had lessened by now and he turned away from her. “This rain ain’t too bad. We better hurry up or we’ll be late.” The least he could do is show her the way to school. An opportunity to apologize properly would come up for sure.

 

There was a moment of feeling light-headed, but that probably was just the weather getting to him. “Uuuhg, my head hurts… Dammit… I wanna go home…”

 

He started to walk and turned his head occasionally to check if the new girl was following him. Ryuji usually took the small alleys to walk to school to avoid the other students. He didn’t need to hear them talking about only a stump remaining bellow his right knee or anything that reminded him of his darkest days constantly. His prosthetic leg was doing an excellent job at that already, as well as that bastard teacher, every time he came across him at school.

 

The boy with the bleached hair had tried a few times to attempt apologizing for his behavior from earlier but he couldn’t find the right words. They walked in silence until they reached the end of the way where the entrance to Shujin would be. Except that a giant castle stood in front of them. Everything was going downhill after they had entered what was supposed to be their school.

 

At first, he had thought it was all a joke. Some TV show set-up but then they had been knocked down and were thrown in a cell, as if they were criminals. Ryuji woke up on a wooden bench, his body hurt and his prosthetic was not where it should be. He did sigh in relief when he checked that at least his liner was on his stump and then saw his prosthetic lying on the cell ground. The new girl was on another bench and it seemed that she was unconscious. In a desperate attempt, he tried to get his prosthetic by leaning against the wall as he hopped towards it, but he lost his balance when he tried to pick it up and fell face first with a loud thud.

 

“Shit!”

 

His fall had been loud enough to wake the transfer student.  Effin’ shit. He never wanted anyone from Shujin to ever see him like this. But before he got the chance to say anything she was at his side already and tried to help him sit up. She looked worried, but to be honest, so was he, he still had no clue what the hell was going on.

 

“… Thanks. Are you okay?”, he asked her and reached for his prosthetic and rolled his pant leg up. He already made an idiot of himself, he didn’t want to look pathetic on top of that.

 

“Yes. You?”, she asked him and looked at his prosthetic leg, then back at him. “… They didn’t break it, did they?”

 

Ryuji looked away and made sure his prosthetic was in one piece, then put it back in place. “… Yeah, I’m more or less okay,” he rolled his pantleg down again, “And that might be the only good thing about it, but that shitty thing won’t break so easily…” He hated this artificial thing and everything it reminded him of. He propped up his good leg to stand up slowly and offered his hand to her to help her get on her feet again as well. Once she was up Ryuji let go of her hand. She didn’t give him any of the looks that other people did, her expression was more on the neutral side. It was oddly calming in this weird situation.

 

The question about where the hell they were hung still in the room when they heard a scream of agony in the distance. There was nothing in that cell that could help them escape either. After what seemed like hours the guards from earlier appeared again, talking about punishment and death, and with them was Kamoshida. In a very ridiculous and perverted-looking king outfit. He sounded and looked a lot like him at least.

 

Ryuji thought he was living a nightmare.

 

“It thought it was some petty thief, but to think it’d be you, Sakamoto… Are you trying to disobey me again? It looks like you haven’t learned your lesson at all, huh?” That disgusting smug look on the teachers face made Ryuji mad. His hands gripped the bars tightly.

 

“And you brought a friend this time… because you can’t do anything for yourself. I hadn’t thought any girl would be interested in a cripple like you, Sakamoto… But you won’t keep her for long.” The look that this perverted teacher gave the new girl was like that of a predator, lecherous and the urge to punch him was growing stronger. What unnerved him more though was that Kamoshida seemed to have targeted her already.

 

So he tried to draw the attention away from her.

 

“This ain’t funny, you asshole!” It did draw that monster’s eyes back to him and away from her, but they still had to get out of here. But Ryuji had made the situation much worse on accident.

 

“Is that how you speak to a king? It seems you don’t understand the position you’re in at all. Not only did you sneak into my castle, you committed the crime of insulting me – the king. The punishment for that is death.”

 

A cold shiver ran down his back and he backed away from the bars. This was dead serious. If he didn’t do something then both of them would be done for.

 

As soon as the guards entered the cell he took another step back before he rushed forward and tackled one of them. Once the guard hit the ground Ryuji looked at the transfer student and told her that they were going to make a run for it.

 

Before they even had the chance to do so he got punched in the stomach and buckled to his knees and got surrounded. Through squinted eyes he could make out that she was trying to pull one of the guards away from him in a desperate attempt.

 

“Just go! Get outta here…! These guys are serious!” Their focus was on him, so she would have a chance to escape. But she was still trying to pull the guard away.

 

“Oh? Running away, are we? What a heartless friend you are. Or did you plan on getting on your knees and beg for mercy?” That implication in that statement from Kamoshida and how it made the girl flinch made him see red again. She wasn’t a friend of his, but no one deserved this.

 

“Don’t dare to lay a finger on her, you monster!”, Ryuji screamed from the top of his lungs and turned his head to her. “C’mon, hurry up and run!” He didn’t know that kept her there, but she wasn’t moving from her spot.

 

“What’s the matter? Too scared to run away or can’t you wait to be loved by me?” How twisted could a man be, Ryuji wondered. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you soon enough. I’ll focus on this one’s execution first...”

 

Two guards grabbed him and held him in place as Kamoshida beat him up and insulted him, the transfer student was being threatened with a sword and forced to watch the whole scene until he hit the ground and got spit one. 

 

“… Hmph. Where’d your energy from earlier go?” He got thrown across the cell. “A peasant like you isn’t worth beating. I’ll have you killed right now.”

 

This was the end –

“Stop it!” Ryuji’s eye landed on the new girl, there was something in her eyes, but he couldn’t tell if it was determination to stand up against that bastard or fury. But once she had yelled Kamoshida’s attention was back on her.

 

“What…? Don’t you dare tell me you don’t know who I am, you little bitch.” The teacher approached her, his face close to hers, but she didn’t back away and inch. “That look on your face irritates me,” and once Kamoshida had said it he kicked her in the stomach and she hit the wall, sliding down the ground. And all Ryuji could do was watch.

 

“Hold her there… after that peasant I’ll show her where her place is, until she breaks.” When Kamoshida turned his back at her she jumped back on her feet and tried to get past the guards but was held back by them.

 

Ryuji didn’t want to be killed. He hadn’t wanted that girl to get dragged in any of this either. He was hearing screams but couldn’t make out where they came from.

 

“Execute him!”

 

“I will stop you.”

 

“What was that…?” Ryuji was let go off and slid down the ground, coughing and taking a deep breath.

 

“You desire to be killed so much…? Fine!” Kamoshida made a gesture with his head and one of the guards knocked he head by a shield from one of the guards, making her glasses fly off and was pinned against the wall once more. When the third guard lifted his sword to strike her, he was pushed back by a gust of wind. A black and white mask appeared on her face and when she tore it off she screamed and started to bleed around the eyes and when she looked up she was…

 

Smirking?

 

One moment later she was engulfed by blue flames and a demon – he thought it’s a demon, because that thing wasn’t normal – with wings emerged from her body, scaring Kamoshida off and pushing the guards on the ground.

 

“Wha… What the…?” That thing called itself Arsene but from what Ryuji got it was going to help them. Everything after that happened really fast, Kamoshida ordered the guards to attack as he stood outside the cell and they turned into monsters. The transfer student and that winged-demon thing were fighting them off. And they one won.

 

The demon was gone after the fight, but Ryuji could only stare at her in awe. “What… What was that just now…?” She didn’t seem to know either as she was eying herself in wonder.

 

“You little…!” Kamoshida had gotten back into the cell and was approaching her. But this time Ryuji wouldn’t let him lay a finger on her. He got up on his feet and tackled Kamoshida on the ground and locked him in the very cell that he had thrown them in.

 

But they didn’t have enough time to dwell on things, like why her clothes were changing and unchanging like that of a Magical Girl’s or where that demon had come from or why Kamoshida had finally snapped.

 

They had to get out of here.


End file.
